Best PlacesElk City, OR Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Elk City, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Elk City ranks 22,540th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on state infrastructure by a wide margin, and thin health care access ranks lowest.
The best neighborhoods in Elk City
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Elk City's strengths and weaknesses
Where Elk City ranks high
- State infrastructureBetter than 97% of towns
- Short commute15.9 minutes each way, better than 96% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than 94% of towns
- Heat safetyBetter than 87% of towns
- Low vacancyBetter than 85% of towns
Where Elk City ranks low
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 8% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 8% of towns
- Disaster safetyBetter than only 9% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than only 11% of towns
- Voter turnoutBetter than only 21% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Elk City
A household needs to earn about $93,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Elk City home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is only a little above the area's median income of $87,488; the gap is small, which keeps homes within reach of local pay.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Elk City's effective rate of 0.63%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices and rents, renting stays cheaper than buying across the first 10 years here, so the case for buying rests on staying much longer or on prices rising faster than assumed. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in Elk City
Elk City runs younger than the country.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Elk City.
Who works in Elk City, and how
Work in Elk City centers on hospitality & food and construction. Unemployment is close to the national rate, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 91%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 8%
Life in Elk City
The coast is about 21 minutes away. Distance to the water changes a lot across Elk City, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in Elk City, month by month
Elk City sees roughly 107 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 63 degrees. January highs sit near 51, with lows near 41. The comfortable stretch runs June through September.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 51° | 45° | 41° |
| April | 55° | 48° | 42° |
| July | 63° | 57° | 50° |
| October | 60° | 53° | 47° |
Flying in and out of Elk City
The nearest airport, Mahlon Sweet Field, is about 47 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Portland International, about 94 miles away.
The best schools in and around Elk City
Schools across Elk City average a B−, better than 57% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Crestview Heights SchoolC− · 29% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Elk City school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Elk City measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Elk City against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Elk City
Is Elk City a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Elk City ranks 22,540th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on state infrastructure, short commutes, and tree cover, and lowest on thin health care access and a weak job market. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Elk City expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $365,489. The overall cost of living runs about 9% below the national average. Set against a $87,488 median income, cost of living beats 74% of towns.
Is Elk City safe?
Elk City is safer than 44% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $388 per resident a year.
Compare Elk City with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Elk City. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Elk City represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Elk City detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Elk City: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Elk City: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Elk City: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Elk City: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Elk City detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.